Firearms, such as M-16, AR-15 rifles, AR-10 rifles, and M-4 rifles, are often used with accessories, such as scopes, lasers, grenade launchers, and the like. Such accessories can be associated with the firearm by attaching either directly or indirectly to the firearm. Indirect attachment can be associated with the use of one or more adapters, such as a throw lever or other mechanism, that attaches to a portion of the firearm and can receive a portion of the accessory when mounting the accessory to the firearm. Direct attachment, in contrast, can be associated with attaching an accessory to a portion of the firearm, such as a rail, rather than through one or more adapters.
A firearm comprising a rail may include a rail having a number of mounting projections interleaved with a series of grooves. Rails are known in the firearm industry and usually conform to standards defined by, for example, the U.S. government. Two common rails include the “Picatinny” rail and the “Weaver” rail that, although differing in dimension, include interleaved mounting projections and grooves. These mounting projections and grooves located along the rail may be employed to associate the accessory with the rail. For example, some accessories may be associated with the rail by sliding onto one end of the rail and, after being positioned appropriately along the rail, by securing the accessory against the rail. Other accessories can be positioned along the rail, placed around the rail, and then secured to the rail. In both instances, associating the accessory with the firearm can be relatively cumbersome and time consuming.
When sliding an accessory onto one end of a rail, a user often encounters difficulty mating the accessory against the rail and then sliding the accessory along the rail to obtain a desired position. In some instances, this difficulty can be associated with mating the profile of the rail with a corresponding profile of the accessory. In other instances, this difficulty can be associated with friction encountered from sliding the accessory along the rail. This friction can be further aggravated by improper alignment of the accessory with the rail or by inadvertent engagement of the accessory with the rail assembly's interleaved projections and grooves.
Similarly, securing an accessory to the rail without first engaging the rail can be a cumbersome endeavor in part because a user must employ both hands—one hand to position and hold the accessory into place and another hand to secure the accessory to the rail. Thus, the user's ability to operate and/or hold the firearm can be compromised since both hands must be employed to manipulate the accessory. In addition, associating an accessory with the firearm in this way can require a user to reposition the accessory multiple times since the position of the accessory relative to the user's operational posture can not be evaluated until the accessory has been secured to the rail.